Sorry about that power failure, here's part two.

I will begin with rafting. The exclamation mark on this keyboard is not working so I’m hoping you will know that just about every sentence has one. Smile. So I rafted the NILE RIVER. Adventurers all over the world dream of this, class five rapids that rock you race off. Naturally, I teamed up with raftonda, our wonderful raft’s name and team name, a group of crazies who all wanted to flip and go nuts on the trip. They give a name for people like that at the rafting company, but I must plea the fifth on that one.
I don’t even know how to go about beginning to talk about the trip because it was so intense, however, death and suffering are inescapable in this place. Upon getting in the raft for take off a woman began screaming and two guides jumped in our boat and rowed off. A young boy or young man had drowned, our guide thinking a couple days before and was still in the water. Devastation plagues this place. Please pray for the people. For safety, but more importantly for spiritual health as well. No words can describe that situation, but I felt like not saying anything about it would be pretending suffering is not going on. Sadly, the entire situation seemed like a typical day and people knew what to do.
Our guide, Peter, was a great young guy. He definitely was able to scare us easily because most of us were rookies. He told the two strongest to get in the front and no one budged so Brad and I looked at each other and jumped in. The front is an INTENSE place to be to say the least. We learned the basic survival techniques that we would be needing on the course of the trip and how best to survive in general. Any event that requires the whole disclaimer if you die thing is going to be a wonderful trip.
On our first rapid, Rib Cage, named for someone who fell out and was smashed against a rock and broke his ribs was first on the list. As I am sure Brad has told you he messed up his knee really bad, at least for the rest of the day. He had his knee on the bottom of the raft and a rock banged it as we hugged the right side of the rapid, it was immediately like ten different colors, he is fine though, I’ll even give him some man points.
The next rapid was Bugigali falls, where we camped earlier this trip. The don’t want to flip raft in our entire lives with all the gals including Sarah definitely wiped out on this one. It was pretty neat, they were pretty freaked out. It was great. They are fine.
OK, this could take forever and I will have a video of it all to show those of you who are hardcore adventurers, but I must tell you about two rapids. The first was called the crazy place. At this point we had yet to flip and were getting antsy. We took crazy place to a new height. There is a single spot on the entire section wonderfully named the G-spot. Bet you never thought I would say that on a mission’s blog. It was glorious. The rapid worked just right where sections of water beautifully fused like a piece of Beethoven to form a freaking 15 foot monster. We hit the G-spot absolutely on target. Brad and I being on front of the raft instantly flew and took at least a 10 foot plunge into the depths of white water. People afar said they saw a paddle shoot up in the air and shortly after bodies begin spewing out of the raft. The guy behind us, Mike said for a moment water came into his eyes and when he reopened them, Brad and I were GONE. We were under for quite some time. There is no way to describe this feeling. You are helpless. The waves control you. You are in complete submission. You have no idea which way is up. You are struggling against force that truly destroys you. After a while I finally begin to come, and had not began to freak out at this point. Then I hit my head on the bottom of raft and was spent spirally to the depths yet again. This rapid had the longest rapid and would not let you go. As I said it’s indescribable but this being my first fall the thought did go through my head I am going to die. It was awesome. Ha, eventually my life jacket thrust me out of the water for a wonderful breathe that I so often take for granted. Many lessons were learned on this day as you can imagine.
I would also like to say that I was a true Indian on this day. All the white folk were deathly scared of sunburn and rightfully so, but I have not a burn on my body. Thanks dad. I think I’m officially dark for the summer too. It’s pretty neat.
The other rapid I want to tell you about is called the Bad Place. Yeah neat name. When we entered our raft, sorry we had gotten out to walk around a class six rapid that is ILLEGAL for commercial rafting, it began to pour bloody murder. It was so intense water all around you and at one point in began to hail. Basically the coolest situation ever. We had to decide to go left or right which meant a class five or four rapid. I was politicking for the class five as hard as possible but people were beginning to freak out especially after our tumble earlier in the day. Someone asked the guide what we should do and he strongly suggested the smaller rapid, which naturally freaked everyone who was toeing the line out and we took that direction. Later we found out that after our take off everyone made it clear that the left harder path was off limits because it was too shallow and would basically swirl you in a whirlpool and not let you out if you fell. How cool would it have been if we made it out and been like yeah if we fell we would have died. I thought so too mom.
So many stories about this day, I should have a video for those interested later.

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The BBS, Basoga Bible School starts today for a week of intense training for Ugandan ministers and I am extremely pumped up about that including the fact I will see my host family father Samson hopefully in minutes. These guys must find there own transportation as well as put up some money for the school so they are legit, its so cool the discipleship going on in this place.

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Also I wanted to mention failure. I know that I am a pretty impressive guy and it seems like I would never fail on the mission field, but I think I have presented this blog without pointing out the utter failures we have been going through. I was lost in translation this last Sunday as I was preaching on “perseverance” with a moderate translator. I failed miserably as I often have on this trip whether it is with language, cultural faux pas, or teaching. Ben later said he would translate like this “and we must have that word, and if we are that word than God will …” I officially paused and realized nothing was going through that day and decided to pray for the church at that point, then later prayed for the sick. Anyways, failure has absolutely surrounded me I just like to pretend like I am a seasoned veteran sometimes.

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At this time I would like to put down some thoughts from my journal.
People want a savior. I am not him. Ugandans treat development as God so often and therefore the Muzungu become their saviors because we have brought education, cars, Christianity and money. I like the attention sometimes because people gather to hear you, but is it only like seed falling on the road to be quickly snatched up by Satan?
I am not here to solve problems – poverty, sickness and death. Jesus did not even do that, but he did two things. He helped out sometimes, however, all those he healed still eventually died. Secondly, he suffered with people. That’s the big one. That is the greatest truth I have learned here so far I believe.
Next to that I have learned things about America, which have been easier to see on the outside looking in. Naturally, they have been mostly negative things. Being at least in awe with if not disgusted by the wealth we have. I think about Holt, my brother, who has no way of fathoming how easy life is for him, in a physical and comfort sense. 90 percent of the world lives in the poverty that I have seen here.
Upon coming here I thought I would find that Satan’s greatest tricks were persecution and hardship on believers, but the world desires and is becoming like the West. In my opinion, Satan is even more effective at the game he is playing with the western world. Materialism grabs us, delights of the world distract us, fast-paced lives sedate our spiritual lives, consumerism is our goal and prize and development is our god.
Perhaps equal to or greater than this god is the god of nationalism, patriotism and democracyism if that is a word. Not that any of those things are bad in themselves, but we have exalted them to the point where we believe America is God’s gift to the world. We believe in the gospel of freedom in this life and we will even go as far as to say killing people is worth that cost of spreading the “gospel” of democracy.
The Church has also become great friends with power. We buddy up with the government and give the Church vote. Not that voting in any way is bad, because it is more than likely a duty of Christianity to speak out for the oppressed. However, I think as a general rule if Christianity is a driving force of power, using worldly authority or even using power to fight power we are most likely if not definitely in the wrong. Our savior was crucified. Our number one go to missionary who we laud was killed in Rome. Apostles were murdered. Prophets were slaughtered. God does not play by the rules of the world, why is the American Church trying to?
My gears have been reversed in many ways. God has worked on this little western boy, but I am sure I have not scratched the surface of truth and God. It amazes me that I will never have it I will never hold all the answers, if any, never have the world figured out, but will always be scraping for truth, continually learning, constantly struggling with this world, myself and God. We talked about Heaven as being a place where we eternally dive deeper into understanding. Understanding of God, his qualities and his love.

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Man – how we control life in America is crazy. Birth control, abortion, genes stuff we have to control everything don’t we? Decisions based on money rather than love, so sad.
What does the story of the rich young ruler mean for me?
If I was a missionary would I live in a house or in the bush in a hut? I will be different either way. I will always have the option to pick up and leave. They will not. But will it be easier to prove God, and I, loves them?

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I have pasted and seen Jesus a lot today. What I do for the least of these I do for Him. Relationships are what life is all about. How you treat people is more important than any doctrine, any claim or anything. Why would Jesus care by what standards you live by if you don’t even look at him on the side of the road? I am not asking for a crusade for the poor, although I am, but having a relationship with the least of these is a relationship with Jesus.
Poverty surround us here. People surround us everywhere. People don’t have running water. Bikes are an absolute luxery.
Rafting. Wow.
Woman just threw up in the car. And again. . . . . it actually happened seven times.

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Well there are a few thoughts to chew on. Once again I want to say thank you for caring, reading, loving, praying and all that you are doing. I know there were some crazy stories and ideas in there. I am all right and kicking. In fact, I am about to go dominate Spencer is some doubles volleyball on our day off, I hope your reading this Spence after you were dominated. Smile.
Look for relationships, share the love of God. Be Christ.
Therefore, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

It has been nice to have some down time lately. Not in the sense that we are not doing as much, but the fact that things are becoming familiar along with a couple of days spent with the Mbarara group where we were able to slow down and think. In beginning to process things I have been writing in my journal a lot so hopefully I will be sharing some of those thoughts later in the entry. As I said this may very well be the last post or at least the last post for the next two weeks.


I will begin with rafting

I want to say thank you so much for the messages! Y'all are so encouraging and it's simply nice to get a word from home. So whether it has been facebook, posting on here or emails thank you so much for giving some of your time! Hopefully I will give one last update tomorrow before we leave for our two week trip. So if I am unable to get back to you before we get home forgive me, but we're about to be extremely busy and without internet access. Until tomorrow!

Just finished with the last village day (minus Sunday for church). Time is slow and fast and non-existent to I suppose. I think all I have time for is giving you an update of things to come. The Mbarara team just arrived and we are about to get to know them with a camping trip. Then Saturday we will be rafting the NILE with them! Get krunk I know. The following Wednesday a week from today we are going to be traveling to Rwanda for a survey trip. Here we will see how much it will cost to be a missionary in a certain area. What the receptivity of the gospel may be like. Seeing if it may be an area God might be sending us to and the difficulties of the language there. Their language is like top 10 hardest in the world I believe and on top of that the national language is French so perhaps I will be able to brush up my skills. Anyways, it will be doubtful I will have a post in those two weeks cause following the survey trip we will be going on our safari trip to Queen Elizabeth park.

One last thought. The ministers here are amazing. The Basoga leaders are so beyond the maturity I expected. Many have been in a period of discipleship for quite some time and are truely shining. There is still much work to be done, obviously and many other leaders to be trained and enter into discipleship, but the leaders rising to the top are truely encouraging to see how good fruit is being produced. I'm not sure how to brag on these guys, but they are legit. Smile, thank you for your prayers. Katonda ye Baziwe!

Why did I premote an update that I knew would be impossible to communicate? I mean seriously, I lived in an AFRICAN VILLAGE, I don't know what I was thinking.

So here I go.

The experiences and thoughts are many, but I do not know how many I will get down so I will probably begin with telling the basics of what physically happened. I was in the village of Kitukiro in the northern part of Basoga. The minister there is named Samson, he is a beast. As we drove out we began to get onto roads that became smaller and smaller. At one point we had to get out of the car and push away brush because the car could barely squeak through. I was in the boonys of all boonys. I loved it. As we drove up the compound I was staying at consisted of two sleeping huts, a cooking hut and a sitting place with shade. This was my home for the last 3 days.

Samson's wife, Jennifer, was so down to earth and relaxed all the time and I didnt get to spend a ton of time with her, but it was interesting observing up close the life of a married woman in the village. Samson's oldest daughter is about 1 and a half and she took a little while to warm up to me. Her name is Elizabeth and she's going to be a hard-to-get kinda girl, ha but by the second day she was familiar enough with me to not be scared. Samson's other daughter, Zipporah, was born just a week before we arrived and was extremely teeny, Emily later said maybe 6 pounds.

The first night as it was getting dark we were driving into the trading place of the village to pick up some meat from the butchers, but by the time we had left it was dark. I found myself on the back of a bike, with meat in one hand as I gently held it because a bone had pierced the bag and with cooking oil in a cup in the other hand. That in itself was a feat. However, the greater task at hand was the fact that I could not even see the ground, and we were RIDING ON A BIKE. It was SO DARK all i could see was the light of stars when i looked up. It was so funny the second we got off the bike i took about two steps before falling on the uneven road. After that I was officially convinced that the villagers have night vision.

That same night I met with many extended family members and neighbors while watching the GLORIOUS NIGHT SKY. This is just not describable, I finally feel like I know what Abraham felt like when God told him his decendents would be like the number of stars in the sky. They brilliantly scattered the dark backdrop all sparkling like diamonds. There was like a half to half ratio of stars to sky. SO NEAT. And naturally you could see every swooping and rocketing shooting star that swept across the sky. Anyways, that night I milked there cow which was pretty cool. We had to trick the cow into producing milk by letting the calf take a couple sips and then ripping its head away. I'm not so keen on the entire process in general too because it just seems like pulling that hard on a body part has to hurt.

There was also much bath taking over the couple days. Samson asked me about every 20 minutes if I wanted to bathe so I definitely decided he was trying to tell me something. I ended up bathing twice though. Bathing meaning getting a bowl with water dropping the clothes and going behind a hut to wash.

Ugandans eat dinner at about 9 to 9:30 which is insane, but we ate dinner (Samson and I) in my hut. They treated me so well as BOTH nights we had meat, beef the first and chicken the second. I cannot even begin to tell you how well I was welcomed into every home. Visitors are a big deal in Uganda, perhaps the biggest deal and I mean come on I am me! ha.

After dinner Samson and I had a Bible study about Acts because he will be attending the Busoga Bible school session over acts in two weeks. He was especially interested in Pentecost and the moving of the Holy Spirit. HA, the first night Samson said something along the lines of "I like you to much to leave you by yourself" I dont know if that should have scared me either way, but we BOTH ended up sleeping on same same twin tiny mattress. Needless to say, I did not sleep amazingly that first night as I could not move.

Samson wakes up on demand. He is such a machine when it comes to things like that and working. So at about 5 AM he sits straight up and says Heath it is time. So every morning at about 5 we would wake up and pray together for about 30 minutes. Which is amazing, but then I talked him into letting me sleep another hour to hour and a half while he biked for like 5-10 miles to get water and prepare for the morning.

When I eventually got up (apparantly at the Lazy Man's hour) we would eat ground nuts (like peanuts) and drink Chai oh and some banananaananas. Saturday we worked in the fields as it was the season for harvesting his G-nuts, ground nuts. Oh man, I forgot another story that happened earlier so I will insert it here. We then went to a school and it was so cool. The kids all talked to me in a rehursted english and speaking format that was very neat. After about 15 minutes of english they sang for like 30 minutes, songs of praise and other school songs. I met the headmaster and some of the teachers and then spoke and encouraged the school.

Then the traveling began. I think I will shorten this up for the sake of time. We went around to two older women and prayed for them as they were physically hurting. We also went to 3 newborns and blessed them. I taught a lesson for the family of the headmaster at his house and we prayed over his family as well. I think the lesson was over suffering, hope, raising children and maybe something else. Oh and by the way everytime we went somewhere I was fed. This meaning before the time of 2 pm i had eaten 6 TIMES! This included 6 cups of Chai so I was feeling it. From Paul's house (headmaster) we went to his town center, his village was Gumpi. There we met some people like the mayor and some other important folk, I felt slightly like a circus and not so happy about it at this point, but whatever thats a whole other thought and story. And also I mean I am a big deal. Ha, some old men also tried to get me to drink alcohol which I didnt know what it was at the time, but Samson gave me a funny look so I declined.

We also went to Samson's uncles house and this was the first time we stayed somewhere for an extended period of time. Naturally since we were there so long we were fed TWICE!!! After much fellowship we had a Bible study about unity in the church. We prayed over the house and said many things. Then Moses, the uncle, named me his 13th son. That was pretty neat. Moses says (as many Ugandans) they want to come to the US to encourage the churches here so that they be encouraging in the same way as we have been.

That night I co-helped in killing a chicken (however i was not the one who actually cut its head off) and then we ate it! I milked the cow again. Oh, also before the night we traveled to a massive rock. It was so funny cause we rode on bike there and right when we got to the base the three guys i was with jumped off and we SPRINTED up this thing. I was SO EXAUSTED. On the big rock we also encounter many monkeys so that was really cool too, we kinda chased them up the rock and then they chased us back down. Yeah thats right i said monkey cause I'm IN AFRICA. ha. We went to the town center again and I was kinda paraded around again, but all is well.

Sunday I had a little downtime in the morning so that was much needed and very nice. Oh, Samson did not sleep with me this night cause Elizabeth really wanted to sleep with him and was crying until he came to be with her. His quote was like "she's loves me so much I must go." Sleeping was absoluely no problem however I think when I woke up therewas a frog or lizard or something on my feet. Anyways, church was a huge story in itself. I was asked many dotrine things over the entire stay, including though as I was standing there and had to be quick on my toes which usually meant getting out of the way and asking them what was culturally important, more on that on a later update perhaps, because i think it is an important issue. Anyways, I preached on the 4 soils as well as church unity which also sprouted some spur of the moment preaching and it was great. Then naturally after my killer sermon, someone decided to baptized, they asked me to do it but i declined and spoke to the church why I thought so, I can explain to yall as well if you would like at a later date. But we walked like 3 miles to a water hole and back so we could baptize her and then back for communion. I want to bragon them for a moment because up until a few weeks ago they looked at communion and decided they would meet after church at someones home and have a meal together including the lord's supper which I think is dead on as to what we are to be doing. I could go on that for a while, but I am not sure if ANYONE is still reading at this point.

Wow, there's so many side stories, relationships to talk about, issues that came up, ideas about life. Oh wow i didnt even talk about the Choo. OK i will end with this. So the choo consists of a little hut that is WAY TO SMALL, not standable in, just very small. Anyways I could describe it in so many vile ways but i will not and only tell you it is a hole where all the waste goes and there are swimming maggots sparkling at the bottom. So one night I'm going out there to the wonderful choo and I am looking down at the hole in case something jumps out and devours me and also because a few years ago it gave way and someone fell in a little bit before catching himself on the walls. You could litterally die in a deep hole of poop, urine and maggot. We have decided it is worse than Hell. Anyways I step inside and a horrifying screech sounds and a BAT HITS MY HEAD. at that point i backed up and retired my trips to the choo. It would be the most difficult thing about being a missionary living in the village.

Well I suppose story time is over for now. I hope you enjoyed, smile. I hope I am able to talk about you further about the stories and idea and thoughts about living in an African village. God is truely in this place, he is in the hearts of these loving people and he is so good to us daily. Well done (Jabale) to any of you who made it this far in the entry. Until next time.

It's cool to know that y'all are praying for me. I know this because a constant miracle continues to occur. I have yet to experience the big D . . . diahrrea. Smile.

In all seriousness it's really weird that I haven't, but on top of that there has not been any intense sickness on the entire team yet. Another wonderful thing that I love to lean on is when I am introducing myself to a village I act as a messager for our church. I know with complete confidence that when I say the churches in Round Rock, Texas, USA greet you and are praying for you it's really happening! SO COOL! I just wanted to say thanks for not making me a liar. Smile.

I had not really had the chance to hang out with Emily and watch her in her ministry here in full swing until this Tuesday. We had a health fair at the Jinja Church and it was incredible. Emily thrived in that setting! We were able to help 130 people! I was at the de-worming booth, it was pretty neat. I feel like I should be able to make a joke or be witty since I was working de-worming, I'm sorry, I have failed. Smile. People loved me though, cause I was the guy with medicine, so always try and be that person, it really helps your ego.

We built a mud church today. I am still filthy, like absolutely dirty, CJ I'm talking dirtier than a week of road tripping with you. I had a shower and there is still layers of dirt. Ok, I think we're getting it . . . so rewarding. I mean building a church and on the same week brothers and sisters from Round Rock are building one in Mexico. Once again, SO COOL. Have you seen this theme how cool it is when God works in people's lives through people's lives. Yeah, me too. I also bathed in the Nile. NEAT.

Tomorrow I will be left in a village all by my lonesome for 3 days. I'm so pumped, however, Brad and I are slightly worried only because we are not worried about anything. Anyways, thats the promo for the next update, although it may not happen for a week or so. I am staying with a minister who I have yet to meet unfortuantely, who is named Samson. Like I said Spence said they are the most African village here and have no idea of time.

Side note - Jessica we decided (we being brad) one of our intern mates looks just like you, so we have started calling her Jessica. (Jessica Looney, Smile)

Ok quickly two thoughts. What is our responsiblities as Americans? I think we have placed so much emphasis on the thought that we are Americans that we place that identity over our Christian identity. Wow, I dont even know how to tackle this topic, but where does our American identity need to stop. I apologize for leaving it at that I just want you to think about how the Church is beginning to become American Christians as opposed to Christians who happen to be Americans. Sloppy thought. This one is even more risky. Same idea, but related to family. How much (espeically as Americans) have we glorified the family over God. I am in no way saying family is bad in anyway and I hope I dont sound like a complete freak, smile I'm sure I do, but it seems like we play the family card as a trump card. Here's a senario. I can't go live in that poor neighborhood because my kids will not get the best education. I am not even sure what I think at this point, but I just wanted to allow an opening of though and perhaps an opprotunity to pounce on me.

I lied. Last thought. Does God change. Man, we've discussed this one alot. I think I'll give you my thoughts later though. . . Has anyone seen any wonderful movies lately?

If I gain weight in Africa, how sad is that. Oh my.

Katonda Mulungi! (God is good!) Thank you for your love and prayers!

Writing has become extremely frustrating. First, because the power here just wont cooperate and I'll be sending a message to someone and my marathon letter will be lost because power failure. More than that, however, is because it is impossible to place these experiences into words. I want to share so badly, but this just cannot be put into words. There is also so much going on that it feels overwhelming to sit at the computer and either write about a single experience or try to glaze over many. Ok, now that I got that out, smile.

Monday is our day off! Spending a week going to the village is absolutely exhausting even though it is rewarding beyond belief. Sleeping in today was marvelous. Like I said in something before, a Sabbath day is absolutely necessary for us to function correctly.

First thought to struggle with today. How does suffering fit into this world. How can God let suffering exist? There is so much suffering in this place. Poverty. Sickness. Death. It is easy, especially as Americans, to glance over suffering because our world (as we think it) is full of safety, comfort and hidden suffering. Granted we see the horrific acts on the news (that only if we watch it) but beyond that death seems to be hidden. The elderly are somewhat covered up and youth is always glorified and flaunted around in our culture. So back to the question of suffering. If your ever lost in thought, I always go straight to the source, straight to Jesus' life. What did he have to say or do about these suffering issues. Most importantly, he was involved. He suffered with people. I think that is the ultimate answer, not that suffering is to be solved because Jesus did not solve these things. However he provided the antithesis to suffering, which is of course hope. However, he did not stop there. He crawled in the trenches with the lepors (by the way I encountered some people with leprosy the other day, and no mom it was not actively spreadable) he was with the poor, the downtrowdden and those suffering. That is where Christian life is to be focused. Not to the point that we're looking to suffer, but that when it comes we acknowledge it and get into people's lives and mourn with them. This is only a fraction of thought and an undeveloped one at that, but I encourage you to think about our response to suffering as Christians.

On another note, I saw the Spiderman 3 trailor by the grace of a missionary with high speed internet. SO EXCITING. Brad and I also just read that Pirates of the Carribean just took the largest weekend gross in the history of movies. So crazy. Which actually reminds me of something else. Man I'm so spoiled, I just can't get away from that being here. We were thinking of places that people line up in America. The theater was at the top of our list. In Uganda, the answer to that would be to get water. Running water is absolutely a luxery here. Think about that guys! Water, the life giving source, that we so easily take for granted is a luxery. There is no running water in homes not to mention all the other comforts we have. People line up for sometimes hours to get water before dark so they can spend hours preparing a meal (another seemingly simple task that takes at least 5x the time it takes in America).

Our Lusoga is forming, it's pretty exciting. The people love it. Let's be incarnational wherever we are. How does that sound. Be all things to all people. What a great idea. Well done Paul. That guy really knew how to look at Jesus' life.

We decided if we had a nickle for every time someone said "MUZUNGU" we would be rich. That meaning white person. It tickles me (yes tickles) that this society has no bars and that it is not taboo to say hey white guy. There are racial tensions here, but it seems slightly lighter at least. Maybe that's me being naive and pretending like I've been here a long time though. I also decided how low my self esteem would be if I was in America. Billions of times a day, I will simply be walking somewhere and children will laugh at me. HA, it makes me smile here, but do I really look THAT funny. The answer is yes. I've decided I have lost all my browness in comparison to everyone because I am one lightskinned dude.

I feel like I'm getting a little unfocused, but the internet has yet to cut out on me so I think I will give you one more thought. . . . after I say, WOW WORLD CUP. What a bizarre ending and I will never attempt to come close to a scary looking frenchman named Zidane because he will headbutt you with the force of a train. So intense.

The ministers here, the Ugandan minister, are really becoming mature in their faith. Way beyond me, they are leading and planting churches here. I cannot praise God enough for the way he has caused church leaders to grow here. At the same time credit is due to the missionaries of past and the current ones for doing their planting and watering. Many still have a long way to go, but its so wonderful seeing fruit from God.

We go bonding starting Friday and ending Sunday. I have yet to meet the minister in the village, partly because where I am staying is way out there. Spencer told me the village is very African. Meaning, they have absolutely no concept of time, so it's possible that I may not be able to leave any sooner than December, sorry mom.

Thank you all for your encouragement, prayers and simply reading what's going on in the life of a lanky indian dude. Love y'all.

God doesn't need me. That's the idea I chewed on today . . . but first let me say a few things. I encourage you to check Brad's blog for further details on our days because we have the exact same schedule almost everyday and have shared the experience of the village and town together. It has been great because we have been able to talk and analyze and decompress all the amazing things we have learned and seen. I also encourage you to check out the Jinja missions website, which is the other link on this blog. Especially the intern's page, which is full of pictures and thoughts of the other interns as we will each update an entry for the website. I have not been able to put a link up for Sarah's blog, but it is on one of my updates and check that out as well.

As an American I thirst for purpose like a Ugandan would desire a modern life and progress a key word being development. However, as we thought about how money and “stuff” is not fulfilling and certainly not what we hope in, we also turned the microscope on ourselves. God doesn’t need me. It’s so hard to swallow, but at the end of the day I am only a tool. Obviously, I am not saying that doing work for God and participating in his mission is bad. I am saying that I should definitely never be on a high horse about serving and working for God and I should never place my identity into myself, in what I do and in what I accomplish as an individual. Man, I think as an individual way too much.

Yesterday, we traveled to a village and were in the car round trip for 5 hours, maybe more. FAR AWAY. Anyways, I am pretty sure a Muzungu (white person) has never stepped foot there, because I felt like an alien there more than any other place so far. We were instant celebrities. While it was cool for a moment, we quickly learned that we were the Muzungu show, being paraded around and it felt like it was a circus. Not cool. Each village possesses its challenges and its greatness. Villagers getting past looking at us as an attraction was the difficulty here, but the wonderful part was the children. When we finally sat down, we were engulfed in a mass of kids, approximately 200 in number with scattered adults as well. I hope they heard God amidst the craziness.

It’s amazing how important greeting is though. Learning the language is the single most important thing one can do to show that you care. Possibly even above being there, which doesn’t make sense, but being incarnational in language is so important. Let me also brag on the missionaries, they are getting it quickly and extremely well. I will never stop loving the expressions we get when this alien talks to them in their own language. Ben compared it to a bear walking up to you in the forest and then speaking to you in English.

I’m getting used to village food; the importance placed on visitors is so high and they always provide the best. I’m pretty high maintenance though.

The movement is truly fruitful. The missionaries are doing such a great job of discipling among so many other things. There is a generation of Basoga church leaders that are leading and planting strong churches.
Another struggle that happened today was working with the ministers of the Jinja Church of Christ. I (and Americans in general I think) are very controlling and want to give input and answers often. If we give answers and/or ideas though, they are taken as the final word. It is therefore difficult to guide without telling. By this I mean we were discussing with a minister what he would preach on this Sunday. Granted I do not know the culture as well as he does, there is still a general feeling of what needs to be said to the church even though it may be difficult for the church to hear and possibly unwelcome. In American terms, it is like convincing a minister to teach the lesson of the rich young ruler to an American church that has immense wealth. I still feel like I am unclear and do not want to be misunderstood, but another aspect that is difficult for us (me especially) is allowing people to fail.

So many things to say! However, I HAVE (smile) to go experience some more. I will try to update more. Man, God is so good! Thank be to God we don’t have to have it all together. I think it’s so healthy to struggle through thoughts and ideas though. Mwereba!

The electricity is most annoying here for posting regularly. I have had one of the most amazing days ever and will spend the next 5 processing it while storing up what's going on at the same time. All this to say, I have an overwhelming need to tell all of you thank you. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your help getting here. Thank you for loving God. Webale!